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Monday, 10 June 2013

Another Milestone Missed, Panic Button Pushed On Tejas

There's
been a typical but welcome flurry of dates and excitement about the Light
Combat Aircraft, which usually happens when there's a change of guard at the
DRDO. First, Defence Minister AK Antony on May 29 declared
that certification of the platform needed to speeded up so that
it was delivered to the Indian Air Force, fully cleared, by the end of next
year. Then, with the change of guard at the DRDO, there was talk of moving up the IOC-2 deadline to
September-October this year. I hate to be a stick in the mud, believe me, but I
think we can all be pretty clear that 30 years have proven how futile it is talking
dates and deadlines when it comes to the Tejas. Instead of getting swept away
by illusory milestones, it's important to quietly finish the job and deliver.
It stopped being a joke over a decade ago. Now, here's a quick round-up of the
latest developments:

·As on June 9, the Tejas
programme has logged 2193 flights, which includes six flights by the latest
airframe, the LSP-8 that flew first in March this year.

·On May 29, Defence
Minister A.K. Antony declared that the Tejas needed to be available to the
Indian Air Force by the end of next year at all costs. Sources say that Antony
doesn't want any more requests for project extension on the programme and wants
final operational clearance by November-December 2014 "no matter
what".

·With IOC-1 achieved in
January 2011, the programme has struggled and floundered for over two years,
and will be looking to complete IOC-2 only by November-December this year, as
against an official target of June. (The DRDO's new chief Avinash Chander,
sources say, has appointed a special unofficial board of his own appointees who
will supervise all aspects of work on the Tejas and report to him every 48
hours on progress. Five of these officials will be based out of Bangalore.)

·Apart from a host of
test parameters -- at least 1,250 test points, according to the latest progress
review report -- that need to be met, the Tejasneeds a new radome (reported first
on Livefist), since the current one has deficient electromagnetic
performance, isn't fully lightning protected and allows a measure of rainwater
ingress, causing the Israeli multimode radar to go glitchy.

·

·The parameters that need
clearance for IOC-2 include wake penetration, lightning clearance, all-weather
clearance among a host of others. My sources indicate to me that all-weather
clearance has been achieved, not the other two.

·Parameters such as
handling/speed at low altitudes and sustained turn rate have been sorted out to
the satisfaction of the IAF as far as the Mk.1 airframe is concerned.

·The bridge between IOC-2
and FOC will include the following: integration of beyond visual range weapons,
gun, rockets, guided and unguided bombs, and the further expansion of its
flight envelope to -3.5 to 8G (-2 to 6G for IOC-2) and 24-degrees angle of
attack (22 for IOC-2).